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PROCEEDINGS 



OF THE 



WHIG STATE CONVENTION, 



HELD AT SPRIGF1LD, MASSACHUSETTS 
September 10, 1851. 






y * | 



N 



W$i& State Contention, 







UNION-HARMONY- YICTORY. 



The delegates to the Whig State Convention assembled at Hampden 
Hall, on the Main street, Springfield, on Wednesday, September 10, 
and were called to order at 25 minutes past 1 1 o'clock by Henry 
Vose, of Springfield. The Hall was filled to overflowing. 

On motion of Ansel Phelps, of Springfield, the Convention was 
temporarily organized by the appointment of Hon. George Morey, 
of Boston, as President, pro tern., and Ezra Lincoln, of Boston, as 
Secretary, pro tern. 

On motion of Charles Thurber, of Worcester, the members of the 
State Central Committee, and the Chairmen of the several District 
and County Committees were invited to take seats, and participate in 
the doings of the Convention. 

On motion of G. Washington Warren, of Charlestown, the Hon. 
John Davis, the only Whig Senator from Massachusetts, and the Whig 
representatives in Congress from this State, were invited to take part 
in the doings of the Convention. 

On motion of Richard L. Pease, of Edgartown, Messrs. Richard 
L. Pease of Edgartown, Stephen Cabot of West Roxbury, William 
Barney of Nantucket, Henry P. Barnes of Pittsfield, Luther J. Wash- 
burn of Northampton, Joseph M. Dodge of Lowell, and Charles Allen 
of Greenfield, were constituted a Committee to collect the credentials 
of the members. 

On motion of Albert H. Nelson, of Woburn, the following com- 
mittee was appointed to report a plan of organization for, and a list of 
officers to preside over the deliberations of the Convention, viz. : — 
Messrs. Albert H. Nelson, of Woburn ; Edward H. Eldridge, of Bos- 
ton ; Joseph Andrews, of Hamilton; James Maguire, of Randolph; 
Horatio N. Bigelow, of Clinton; Samuel A. Dean, of Taunton; 
Luther Stephenson, of Hingham ; Charles F. Swift, of Yarmouth ; 
William Hyde, of Ware ; Daniel Frost, of Orange ; John Holden, of 
Adams; Francis M. Mitchell, of Nantucket ; Daniel Fisher, of Edgar- 
town ; Jacob B. Merrick, of Palmer. 



The Committee subsequently reported that the Convention be organ- 
ized by the choice of a President, a Vice President from each Con- 
gressional district, and four Secretaries ; and they reported the follow- 
ing list : — 

For President. 
Hon. BENJAMIN F. THOMAS, of Worcester. 

For Vice Presidents. 

James Read, of District No. 1. 

Joseph E. Sprague, " " 2. 

E. J. M. Hale, " " 3. 

Samuel Chandler, " " 4. 

John W. Lincoln, " " 5. 

Noah Welles, " " 6. 

Eli Bradley, " " 7. 

Eliab Whitman, " " 8. 

George M. Allen, " " 9. 

Abraham H. Howland, " '« 10. 

For Secretaries. 

John C. Pratt, of West Roxbury ; 
Clark W. Byram, of Great Barrington ; 
Joseph C. Pynchon, of Springfield ; 
B. B. Caverly, of Lowell. 

The report was unanimously accepted, and Mr. Thomas, of Wor- 
cester, was conducted to the Chair by Messrs. Thomas Hopkinson and 
Ralph Sanger, of Dover. 

The Throne of Grace was then addressed by Rev. George A. Ovi- 
att, of Cabotville, as follows : — 

Almighty and Most Merciful God ! we implore thy blessing upon us 
on this interesting and important occasion. We thank thee that thou 
hast given thy Son to be the Savior of the world. We thank thee that 
thy mercies are over all the works of thy hands. We thank thee that 
thou hast blessed us with the enjoyment of religious and civil freedom. 
We thank thee that we are permitted to assemble on this occasion, 
under circumstances of so much mercy. We thank thee that we are 
citizens of this good Commonwealth. We thank thee that thou hast 
blessed us from the commencement until the present time. We thank 
thee for those glorious principles, political, civil and religious, which 
have been enjoyed by the citizens of this State. We thank thee, O, 
God ! for the history of this Commonwealth ; and that this State has 
acted an important part in the welfare of the nation. We thank thee 
for those men who were brought in thy Providence to these shores, to 
lay the foundation of the institutions which we now enjoy. AN e thank 
thee that thou hast raised up from time to time so many men who have 
been an honor to their fellow citizens, and an honor to this great 
country; whose names, whose memory, and whose deeds will be held 
in recollection so long as we shall exist. We thank thee, Our Hea- 
venly Father, that we live in this great country of liberty, civil and 



religious. We thank thee that when there has been conflict of opinion, 
thou hast yet sustained us, and that we have been held together, these 
growing States, and that to-day we are a united people. We thank 
thee that thou hast watched over us in all our struggles in our time of 
danger; and we trust in the God of Heaven, that we shall be preserved 
as a great and a glorious Union, to be honored by the world, and to 
exert a mignty influence for the dissemination of true principles of 
freedom, until the world shall be free. 

We pray thee to smile upon the Chief Magistrate of these United 
States, justly honored so extensively among the people. We pray that 
his life and his health may be precious in thy sight ; and that all who 
are associated with him may be just men, ruling in the fear of God. 
We pray thee to bless all those who have been elevated, in the differ- 
ent sections of the Union, to places of trust. May they be guided by 
that wisdom which will secure as the result, the highest welfare to this 
great and mighty people. We pray thee, our Father, that there may 
be a right appreciation of the great elements of civil freedom, in all 
sections of the country. We pray that the acerbity of party spirit may 
be moderated. We pray that the North and the South, the East and 
the West, may yet stand shoulder to shoulder, and be firm in uphold- 
ing those great institutions which have been founded and sustained at 
such a sacrifice. We pray thee that all those evils which exist in the 
nation, in thine own time, and in connection with the highest welfare 
of the people, may be removed ; and that none of our fellow citizens, 
North or South, East or West, with a spirit of fanaticism and mad- 
ness, may be left to lay their hands ruthlessly upon the bonds which 
bind us together as a nation. Oh, we lift up our prayer on this occa- 
sion, and as we assemble from time to time, to the God of the " Father 
of his Country," whose name is precious, whose mighty deeds we hal- 
low, and whose influence we feel ; and we entreat thee to save us — 
oh, save: us from the indulgence of those passions which shall lead to 
the dismemberment of this great nation. 

We pray thee now to bless this Convention. We thank thee that 
those who have been chosen by their fellow-citizens from the different 
towns of the Commonwealth, have come here to-day under circum- 
stances of so much mercy. The day is auspicious, and we meet in 
the enjoyment of health. We look abroad upon the face of nature, to 
animate us, and to lead us to put our trust in thee. Wilt thou smile 
upon thy servant, called to preside over the Convention. May he have 
wisdom ; and wilt thou grant that under his direction, every thing may 
be done " decently and in order." May there be harmony of purpose. 
May there be harmony of action. We pray that the results of this 
Convention may be for the advancement of those principles connected 
with our civil welfare, which we regard as dear to our hearts. We 
pray that the people of this Commonwealth, while they enjoy their 
rights, may remember that they are responsible to thee for the power 
they may exert ; and may they all act as in the fear of the Lord. 

We now again implore thy blessing upon all the members present. 
May they enjoy health. May this be an interesting occasion. As 
they exchange salutations, may it be with a heart beating warm for the 
welfare of the nation As they deliberate, and as they shall present 



those names which may be held forth as representing the persons they 
desire to be elected to the principal offices in the Commonwealth, may 
there be a united feeling ; and wilt thou guide in all their counsels. 
Forgive us all our sins. Bless us in all our ways. May we be blessed 
in our persons ; be blessed in our families ; be blessed in our Com- 
monwealth ; be blessed in our great nation ; be blessed in the dissemi- 
nation of freedom ; and be permitted to share in those great and glori- 
ous victories for freedom, civil and religious, which are to be accom- 
plished, through Jesus Christ, to whom be the honor, and the glory, 
forever. Amen ! 

The prayer having been concluded, the President of the Conven- 
tion made the following address : — 

Gentlemen — Delegates of the Whig party of Massachusetts: — I 
thank you for the honor of presiding over this Convention, met for the 
redemption of the Commonwealth. I bring to the chair no experience in 
the discharge of its duties. Your kindness and forbearance will sup- 
ply that defect. 

I do bring to you unfaltering attachment to the cause, and an earnest 
will to serve as well as to love it, — a readiness which I know is shared 
by every one of you, to forget all minor differences of opinion, all per- 
sonal preferences, knowing that in harmony of counsel and unity of 
effort we shall find safety and power, power to make words things, to 
warm resolve into action, and to kindle action into victory, — to save 
the Commonwealth, while she is worth saving, before the hand of the 
spoiler has taken from her her beauty and her strength; before her 
frame has been tortured and distorted by rash and empirical experi- 
ment ; and while she yet feels the glow and moving impulse of the 
Whig principles which are woven into the texture of her being, and 
which have been to her as the marrow of her bones, and the life 
of her blood. Gentlemen, it is ours to save the Commonwealth if we 
will, and we will : — let the recording angel write it now — we will! 
— save her from reckless radicalism at home, and from infidelity to 
the Union, of which, to our loving eyes, she has been the bright and par- 
ticular star. We cannot, indeed, wipe out the record of the im- 
mediate past. Massachusetts can never stand where she stood be- 
fore this night of the Coalition ; but we can dispel its darkness by 
the clear and gladsome light of another Whig morning. For this 
we need to build no new platform. Let us, in this regard, learn 
wisdom from the failure of the friends who have left us. The 
imposing platform which they reared has proved but wood and stubble, 
and is now blazing on the hearthstones, and warming the air of the 
Democratic wigwams of New York and Massachusetts. Let us be 
content to tread the old pathway, to stand on the platform on which our 
fathers and ourselves have stood in serene joy, as the waves of succes- 
sive factions have lashed themselves into fury, and broken at its base. 

Loyalty to the Union, not the cold and formal assent of the under- 
standing only, but the warm and embracing sympathies of the heart. 
Willingness to do, and, if need be, surfer in her cause, considering any 
temporary or local success, however brilliant, as purchased at too great 
a cost, if it be at the expense of the least fidelity to her. Loyalty to the 



Constitution, as the august, and we trust, immortal bond of that Union. 
Readiness to perform the whole contract, without evasion or reserva- 
tion, and in the spirit of compromise and mutual concession in which 
it was framed. Reverential obedience to law as the rule of action, not 
of thought, between which and anarchy there is and can be no middle 
ground. Strict regard for the rights of our sister States ; a calm, but 
fearless, maintenance of our own. In our foreign relations, peace and 
a jealous vindication of our National honor ; and, as essential to this, 
the preservation, at all hazards, and at every cost, of our National faith, 
and a scrupulous regard for the rights and for the territories of other 
Nations. The encouragement and protection of our own industry by 
specific and discriminating duties. The development of our great 
natural resources; and the protection and safety of commerce on our 
inland as well as our outward seas. A generous and manly support of 
the Administration which maintains, and, as far as in its power, carries 
out this wise and liberal policy. 

Adhering to this platform, broad enough for at least twenty millions 
of freemen to stand upon, underlying the whole political horizon, 
excluding geography from politics, we may hope to triumph. On 
any more narrow sectional platform, success would be more terrible 
than defeat. 

Gentlemen, in the last campaign, the Whig party bent before the 
storm, but it bent only as the oak bends before the passing wind, to 
rise up again in its majesty and in its strength. Out of the evil we 
may educe good ; out of this " nettle danger," we may pluck the 
flower of safety. We needed the wholesome discipline of adversity, 
and if it shall serve to knit us yet more closely together, to rouse us to 
greater vigilance, to more vigorous effort, though like the toad, ugly 
and venomous, it will have a jewel in its head. 

On motion of Benjamin Seaver, of Boston, the following committee 
was appointed by the chair to collect, sort, and count the votes for a 
candidate for Governor — viz : Benjamin Seaver, of Boston ; Alpheus 
Hardy, of Dorchester ; Leonard M. Hills, of Amherst ; James H. 
Mitchell, of Bridge water ; E. W. Cobb, of Nantucket : George John- 
son, of Charlestown. 

[During the collection of the ballots by the above committee, Geo. W. Richard- 
son, of Worcester,, inquired if it would be legal to cast a ballot not in an envelope 
— laughter.] 

On motion of Harvey Jewell, Messrs. Harvey Jewell, of Boston; 
Oliver M. Whipple, of Lowell ; Isaac Southgate, of Leicester ; Lean- 
der Crosby, of Orleans ; J. P. Sullivan, of Whately ; Oscar Edwards, of 
Chesterfield, and M. T. Gardner, of Shirley, were appointed by the 
chair to receive, sort, and count the ballots for Lieutenant-Governor. 

On motion of Ezra Lincoln, it was voted that a Committee of one 
from each Congressional district be appointed to prepare an address 
and resolutions for the consideration of the Convention. The Chair 
appointed the following gentlemen, to constitute the Committee : — 
Ezra Lincoln, of District No. 1 ; Augustus Story, of No. 2; Isaac S. 
Morse, of No. 3 ; Charles R. Train, of No. 4 ; P. E. Aldrich, of No. 
5; W. G. Bates, of No. 6; Isaac Seeley, of No 7; B. F. Copeland, of 
No. 8; George A. Crocker, of No. 9; Oliver C. Swift ; of No. 10. 



8 

On motion of Charles Theodore Russell, of Boston, it was 
voted that a committee of five be appointed by the Chair to collect, 
sort, and count the ballots for three delegates at large, to represent the 
Whig party of Massachusetts in the National Whig Convention. The 
following gentlemen were constituted the committee, viz : — Charles 
Theodore Russell, of Boston ; John Gardner, of Dedham ; Geo. W. 
Richardson, of Worcester ; Mathias Ellis, of Carver ; Wm. A . Crocker, 
of Taunton. 

A. H. Bulloch moved, on account of the delegates not being able 
to obtain entrance into the hall, that when the Convention adjourn, it 
adjourn to meet in Court square, in front of Rev. Dr. Osgood's 
Church: — Carried. 

Mr. Seaver, of Boston, from the Committee on the ballots cast for 
Governor, reported the following as the result of the balloting : — 

"Whole number 1033 

Necessary for choice . . 517 

Robert C. Winthrop, of Boston, had 811 

Samuel H. Walley, of Roxbury 207 

John H. Clifford, of New Bedford 3 

Franklin Dexter, of Beverly 2 

Charles Hudson, of Lexington 1 

Orin Fowler, of Fall River 1 

Josiah Quincy, Jr., of Boston ....... 1 

George N. Briggs, of PittsfLeld 1 

John P. Bigelow, of Boston 1 

Four ballots were cast for George Grennell of Greenfield, for Lieuten- 
ant-Governor, which were not counted by the committee. 

The report was accepted, and the President declared that the Con- 
vention had made choice of Hon. Robert C. Winthkop, of Boston, 
to be the Whig candidate for Governor, at the ensuing State election. 

Tappan Wentworth, of Lowell, moved that the Hon. Robert C. 
Winthrop be put forth as the unanimous choice of this Convention, 
as the Whig candidate for Governor. 

The motion was carried with one unanimous shout of AYE, and 
the nomination was received with tremendous and long continued 
applause. 

Mr. Jewell, from the Committee appointed to collect and count 
the ballots for candidate for Lieutenant-Governor, reported the result 
as follows : — 

"Whole number ' . SoS 

Necessary for a choice . . . 420 

George Grennell, of Greenfield, had 696 

Myron Lawrence, of Belchcrtown 129 

John W. Lincoln, of Worcester ....... I 

W. B. Calhoun, of Springfield 3 

Nathaniel B. Borden, of Fall Kiver 'i 

Franklin Dexter, of Beverly ........ 1 

Seth Sprague, of Duxbury .......•! 

Ensign II. Kellogg, of Pittsfield 1 

( lharles ( trennell ........-• l 

Two ballots were cast for Robert C. Winthrop, and one for dele- 
gates to the \Vhi<r National Convention, which were not counted. 
The report was accepted, and the President declared tint, the Con- 



9 

vention had made choice of Hon. George Grennell, of Greenfield, as 
the Whig candidate for Lieutenant-Governor. 

On motion of John Davis, of Worcester, the nomination of Mr. 
Grennell was declared unanimous, amidst hearty cheering. 

Mr. Russell, from the committee appointed to collect and count 
the ballots for three delegates to the Whig National Convention, 
reported as follows : — 

Whole number . . " 697 

Necessary for a choice 349 

Edward Everett, of Cambridge, bad 687 

George Asbmun, of Springfield 678 

Setb Sprague, of Duxbury 679 

Julius A. Rockwell, of Pittsfield 9 

Wm. B. Calhoun, of Springfield 9 

George N. Briggs, of Pittsfield . 6 

Myron Lawrence, of Belchertown 3 

Joseph Grennell, Franklin Dexter, Charles G. Loring, Homer Bart- 
lett, John W. Lincoln, John Reed, Justin Jones, Alfred T. Turner, 
Benj. F. Thomas, received one vote each — six votes cast for Gover- 
ernor and Lieutenant-Governor were not counted. 

Messrs. Everett, Ashmun, and Sprague, were declared elected. 

On motion of Mr. Russell, the delegation were authorized to fill 
any vacancy which may occur in their number from sickness or other 
cause. 

On motion of Mr. Pease, of Edgartown, the Convention adjourned 
to 2J o'clock, P. M. 

AFTERNOON SESSION. 

The Convention assembled in front of Rev. Dr. Osgood's church, 
and was called to order by the President, at 3 P. M. 

On motion of George Morev, of Boston, it was voted that the Presi- 
dent notify the Hon. Robert C. Winthrop and Hon. Geo. Gren- 
nell that they have been unanimously elected as the Whig candidates 
for Governor and Lieutenant-Governor at the coming State Election. 

Ezra Lincoln, from the Committee appointed for that purpose, 
reported the following Address and Resolutions. 



Address of the Whig State Convention to the People 

of Massachusetts. 

Fellow Citizens. — Your delegates assembled in convention at 
Springfield, to make the customary arrangements for the annual State 
elections, respectfully submit to you, in conformity with usage, the fol- 
lowing exposition of the state of public affairs : — 

It is scarcely necessary to say, that the political condition of the 
Commonwealth for the current year is such as has never before been 
witnessed. We cannot deny that it is in our opinion highly discredita- 
ble to the Commonwealth. It must certainly be so regarded by the 
Whigs of the State, and we believe it is so considered by all right 
thinking and patriotic citizens throughout the Union. In fact, 



10 

although individuals and parties within the State have been found wil- 
ling to co-operate in the measures which have brought the Common- 
wealth into its present political condition, and although there is too 
much reason to fear that the same individuals, and the parties led by 
them, will endeavor, for selfish and corrupt purposes, to prolong it for 
another year, yet we are not aware that any individual has been found 
so destitute of mpral sensibility, as to presume to justify on principle — 
as a thing in itself right and commendable — the bargain under which 
Massachusetts is now ruled ; — a bargain between minorities, who pro- 
fess to abhor each other's principles, but who, with open contempt of 
all principle, have entered into a public traffic for offices. 

Before proceeding to comment more at length on this discreditable 
state of things, we deem it proper briefly to advert to the state of 
national affairs. It is felt throughout the country that a crisis of no 
ordinary difficulty exists. Whether we look to the debates and pro- 
ceedings of Congress ; to the popular elections throughout the country ; 
to the tone of public opinion, as indicated throughout the Union by 
the press, and the discussions every where taking place, we cannot be 
insensible to the fact that the stability of our institutions is put to a 
severe test. It is probably left to this generation to ascertain, by a 
severe experiment, the soundness and vitality of those principles, 
which were embodied by our fathers in the Constitutions, as well of 
the several States, as of the Union. They have triumphantly withstood 
the trial of adversity, and are now undergoing the severer trial of pros- 
perity. Our form of government, to which foreign nations, struggling 
for political liberty, have hitherto looked with mingled admiration and 
despair, was framed for a comparatively feeble confederacy, spread 
along the Atlantic coast, possessing a population not greatly exceeding 
three millions, and divided into thirteen States, bound together by the 
endearing ties of common efforts and sufferings, in the struggles f or 
national existence. Seventy years have somewhat weakened the origi- 
nal strength of these kindly associations. Our population, by natural 
increase, and latterly by the rushing tide of immigration, has swelled 
from three to twenty-four millions; the States have multiplied from 
thirteen to thirty-one, and instead of a narrow strip along the Atlantic 
coast, now occupy vast spaces in the interior, and stretch from ocean 
to ocean. Nor can it be denied that in connection with these natural 
causes, tending more or less to subject our institutions of government 
to new trials, public opinion and public sentiment at the North and at 
the South, have, within two generations, undergone such changes as 
threaten, unless controlled by a stronger and deeper feeling of compre- 
hensive patriotism, to destroy the cohesion of this mighty fabric of free 
republican government. 

We forbear to enlarge on the various topics connected with national 
politics, and subordinate to these general ideas. We deem it in this 
respect sufficient to refer to the address of the Whig Convention, 
assembled at Worcester on the 1st of October of the last year, and to 
reiterate the sentiments therein expressed. At that period the National 
Administration, as constituted after the lamented decease of Genera] 
Taylor, had but recently entered upon the discharge of its duties. We 
are now able to say, after the experience of nearly a twelvemonth, thai 



11 

it has fully earned the confidence which we accorded to it in advance. 
The great interests of the country have been faithfully cared for. 
Never has the vast and complicated system of government, in which 
the Union is now comprehended, been carried on with greater vigor, 
intelligence, and singleness of purpose, to the extent of the powers, 
always limited, though highly important, with which the Executive is 
clothed under the Constitution and the Laws. In the commendation 
bestowed upon the National Administration, in the recent "notice for 
a Whig State Convention" in New York, we entirely concur, as we 
do also in the views and sentiments contained in that judicious paper 
on the subject of the difficult and embarrassing questions which have 
agitated the country during the past year. Referring, therefore, to 
this document, and to the address of the Massachusetts Whig Conven- 
tion of last year, as embodying and expressing our feelings of respect 
towards the National Administration, and our views of national poli- 
tics, we proceed to invite your attention more particularly to the exist- 
ing state of things in this Commonwealth. 

It is well known to you, that the Whigs of Massachusetts were in a 
large plurality at the last State election, estimating the numbers of the 
different parties by the votes cast at the polls. By this test the Whigs 
possessed a plurality of nearly twenty-one thousand votes over their 
regular opponents, the Democratic party, and of more than twenty- 
nine thousand votes over the Free Soil party, as it is called, with very 
little propriety of appellation. The Whigs accordingly, if as numer- 
ous in almost any other State of the Union as in Massachusetts, would 
have achieved a decisive victory. By that principle of political organi- 
zation, which is adopted in most of our sister States, — namely, the 
principle that when no one party unites an absolute majority of all the 
votes, the public interests should be confided to the party making the 
nearest approach to such a majority, — by this principle, we repeat, 
the Whigs of Massachusetts would have come out of the elections of 
last year with triumphant success. In addition to this, it is to be con- 
sidered that of the Free Soil party, one-half at least must be supposed 
to have been originally Whigs, and to concur with the mass of the 
Whig party in their views of general political questions. How persons 
of this description, and who claim to be peculiarly under the influence 
of conscientious motives, can justify to themselves a coalition with those 
who differ from them on general questions of politics, — who do not 
pretend to agree with them in the distinctive principles of Free Soil- 
ism, — and with no principle of action common to both, but that of 
participation in the public offices, to which they are able by mutual 
understanding to elect each other, is a question in casuistry, on which, 
among disinterested observers, there will not probably be great diversity 
of opinion. 

It is well known that the organization of the Free Soil party, as a 
distinct political association, is quite recent. It goes back only to the 
summer of 1848. At that time a portion of the Whigs of Massachu- 
setts, and of other non-slaveholding States, professed to be dissatisfied 
with the nomination, by the Whig Convention at Philadelphia, of Gen- 
eral Taylor, who was a Southern slaveholder. There was no doubt a 
strong feeling on the part of many patriotic members of the Whig 



12 

party, that sound policy and very high considerations of political expe- 
diency, required the nomination of some candidate from the non-slave- 
holding States, But it was the division among the people of those 
States, which united with General Taylor's military popularity, in caus- 
ing him to be selected ; and nothing is more unjust and groundless 
than the suggestion that his nomination was forced upon the Middle 
and Northern States by the predominating power of the South. It 
need not be said that while the South has certainly claimed and 
received the Presidency for her distinguished citizens far more fre- 
quently than she ought to have done, on any ground of equal right, or 
fair proportion, yet the principle of the Free Soil seceders in 1848, 
that a Southern candidate as such ought to be repudiated, was of course 
a principle upon which the Union of the States could not stand a day. 
It is well known that Mr. John Quincy Adams declared that * General 
Taylor would do more to curb the spirit of conquest and check the 
spread of slavery, than any man the Whigs could elect," and the 
course of his administration was such as to justify this opinion. 

While a portion of the Whigs, professing to be dissatisfied with the 
selection of a candidate from the Southern States, broke off from their 
party in 1848, it happened that a portion of the Democratic party in 
the State of New York were equally dissatisfied with the nomination 
of Gen. Cass by the Democratic Convention at Baltimore. The per- 
sons alluded to were under the influence of Mr. Van Buren, and formed 
what has been called, in the political slang of the day, the "barn- 
burner" section of the Democratic party. They were actuated by a 
wish to punish the friends of Gen. Cass for having defeated Mr. Van 
Buren's nomination in 1844. The immediate agency by which they 
were enabled to defeat him, was Mr. Van Buren's Texas letter, the 
object of which was, on the eve of the Presidential election of 1844, 
to conciliate the favor of " the Liberty party" in the Free States, 
without, however, giving just cause of offence at the South. Accord- 
ingly, not a word of opposition was made in this important letter to 
the annexation of Texas on any anti-slavery principle, but simply on 
the ground of danger of collision with Mexico ; while the writer of 
the letter evidently calculated that the simple opposition to annexation, 
would satisfy the Liberty party, as it called itself, at the North, he 
depended upon his known and proverbial toleration of Southern insti- 
tutions, to retain his supporters in that quarter. He experienced the 
fate of those who endeavor at the same time to sit upon two stools ; 
and General Cass, though failing at that time himself to get the nom- 
ination, was considered, by his co-operation with Mr. Polk's friends, 
to have been the cause of Mr. Van Buren's defeat. This injury in 
1844 was to be revenged in 1848, when General Cass was nominated 
at Baltimore ; and hence the opposition of the Barn-burners of New 
York to that nomination. 

With that disaffected portion of the Democratic party, the Whigs, 
disaffected at General Taylor's nomination, entered into a coalition, 
which assembled in convention at Buffalo and nominated Mr. Van 
Buren as President of the United States. His antecedent and recent 
political history was too well known, to allow this movement to be 
regarded in any other light than that of an intrigue. 



13 

There was no prominent statesman at the North, who had been so 
completely identified as Mr. Van Buren with Southern views. He had 
labored to procure the surrender to the Spanish authorities of the lib- 
erated slaves of the Amistad, and he had publicly declared that, even 
if an act of Congress should pass for the abolition of slavery in the 
District of Columbia, he would negative it as President. He had in 
short been described by John Quincy Adams, with epigrammatic 
severity and point, as " a Northern man with Southern principles." 
Such was the first Presidential candidate of the Free Soil party. It 
is superfluous to add, that he did not receive a single electoral vote. 
It is hardly possible that his friends could have expected that he would 
receive one. 

During the year 1849, the Free Soil party was kept in efficient organ- 
ization by agitating the subject of the non-extension of slavery into Cali- 
fornia ; and by the false pretence that the Whig party was lukewarm, 
and that General Taylor could not be trusted, on this point. By these 
unfounded suggestions, the Free Soil party was kept alive for pur- 
poses of local interest and personal ambition in Massachusetts, and 
in some other States, even after it had suited the interests and ambition 
of their late allies in New York " to deny that there had ever been any 
Free Soil party." At the close of the year 1849, to the surprise of the 
whole country, and the heart-felt joy of all who regard slavery as a 
measureless evil, the people of California assembled in Convention, 
adopted a constitution, by which they voluntarily excluded slavery for- 
ever from their borders. It might have been expected that this 
auspicious event, taken in connection with the prudent and concilia- 
tory course of General Taylor's administration, would have shown that 
a separate Free Soil party, if ever expedient, was no longer required, 
by any thing in the state of the country ; that the public sentiment of 
the people at large, of both political parties in the non-slaveholding 
States might be safely confided in, to do all that the Constitution 
permits to be done, to prevent the extension of slavery. But it soon 
became apparent that the leaders did not wish to be satisfied. They 
had conceived other projects. The removal of a real ground of 
anxiety was the signal for bringing forward others, which were 
factitious and imaginary, and the great end to be obtained was the 
formation of a new and powerful party. 

This purpose was effectually subserved by the adoption by Congress 
in the summer of 1850, of what have been called the Compromise 
Measures, and especially by the Law for the Surrender of Fugitive 
Slaves. With respect to that law in particular, or the system of meas- 
ures of which it formed a part, the Whigs of Massachusetts have no 
new grounds to take. With respect to the law for the surrender of 
fugitives, on which the chief dependence of the agitators is placed, to 
keep open the festering sore between the South and the North — the 
Whigs of Massachusetts stand upon the Constitution, and that alone, 
and the attempt to raise a prejudice against them on that ground is as 
uncandid in spirit as it is unwarranted by fact. 

Do the Free Soil leaders deny that the Constitution of the United 

States requires the surrender of fugitives? No person denies that. 

The extreme Abolitionists admit the fact, and make it one of their 

chief grounds for warring against the Constitution and seeking a 

2 



14 

dissolution of the Union. The Free Soil leaders profess to be friends 
to the Union, and admit the obligation to support the Constitution. 
Those of them, who hold office, are sworn to support it. In other 
words, they are sworn to support this clause of the Constitution, just 
as much as if it were specifically named in the oath. 

And how do they propose to carry into effect this requisition of the 
Constitution ? We call upon these Free Soil leaders to come out 
and give us their plan. They will answer, perhaps, by saying they 
would repeal, not only the law of 1850, but that of 1793, and would 
pass an extradition law, containing provision for a trial by jury. Such 
a law the Whigs of Massachusetts would greatly prefer. Some of them 
think no other law is constitutional, though the Courts have not sus- 
tained this view. But supposing it to be passed. What then? Must 
it not be executed ? Must not the fugitive, if claimed, be arrested, 
and, when proved to be such, surrendered? What becomes, then, of 
all the fervid declamation, which we have heard against " surrendering 
as a slave any person, who has trod the soil of Massachusetts as a free- 
man." What becomes of all those solemn appeals to the original 
rights of humanity ? Is nothing meant but the substitution of the 
verdict of a jury for the decision of a judge? A surrender in either 
form would be equally the accomplishing of what is so loudly protested 
against. Perhaps the ground will be taken that all laws upon the sub- 
ject, passed by Congress, are unconstitutional, and that the extradition 
clause in the Constitution must be carried into effect by State laws. 
This is the ground taken by Mr. Rantoul, and which has earned for 
him an election to Congress by a union of Democratic and Free Soil 
votes. On this ground Mr. Rantoul is pledged to support the uncon- 
ditional repeal ot this law and all laws of Congress on the subject. But 
what then ? The State of Massachusetts, and the other free States, on 
this theory, have got to pass an effective law for the surrender of fugi- 
tive slaves. Mr. Rantoul and his supporters, are as much pledged to 
promote the enactment of such a law as the repeal of the existing laws 
of Congress. On this theory the State of Massachusetts is bound, not 
only to acquiesce in the surrender of fugitives, — but to pass laws of 
her own, — to appoint or designate magistrates to carry them into 
effect, — to provide jails or other places of confinement, — in short, to 
adopt every other measure requisite for giving effect to this clause of 
the Constitution. And is it for proposing this doctrine, in opposition 
to all that the State has done since 1843, that Free Soilers in 1851 
have bestowed their support on Mr. Rantoul? It is unnecessary to 
comment upon the manifest bad faith of an agitation thus conducted. 

The last development of its nature is of more recent date, but the 
character of the Free Soil agitation was put beyond doubt, at the last 
annual elections in Massachusetts. It was sufficiently apparent that 
the object aimed at was the consolidation of a new political party, to 
be composed of disaffected Whigs and Democrats. The former class 
were to be secured and stimulated to activity by the Anti-Slavery agi- 
tation, tin; latter by pretended sympathy on the ground of State 
Reform. Of the sort of measures contemplated under this name, 
which one might BUppose to be given in mockery or jest, had it not 
been assumed by the authors of the measures, we shall presently say a 
few words. It is sufficient to allude at present to the strange incon- 



15 

sistency of men, whose whole political life is identified with the support 
of Whig men and Whig measures, and who now profess to sympathize 
with the Democratic party on the subject of the necessity of State 
Reform. In order to give effect to Free Soil principles of two or 
three years standing, they join an opposing political party in attempting 
to pull down the institutions and overturn the policy they have sup- 
ported all their lives. Not contented with the act, they covet even 
the name, and an attempt was early made by the leaders, which has 
met with but indifferent success, to give the name of " Free Democ- 
racy" to this monstrous combination. It is to be regretted, for the 
credit of our community, that so ready a concurrence was yielded to a 
plan like this by a majority of the Democratic party. It is however, 
but too true, that, at the annual elections last fall, coalition candidates 
for the House of Representatives were supported in many of the towns, 
and coalition tickets for the Senate were arranged in most of the dis- 
tricts, and in some of them elected. That the Democratic party had 
any sympathy with the professed objects of the Free Soilers was not pre- 
tended, and, in fact, is disclaimed and even regarded as a calumny. 
What the Free Soil party professed to think of the Democratic party is 
well known. It is well remembered that, on the eve of the Presidential 
election in 1848, a formal manifesto was published under the sanction 
of a leading Free Soil press, entitled " The Three Platforms." To this 
manifesto the widest possible circulation was given throughout the Com- 
monwealth. It was scattered, like snow flakes, through the towns and 
villages. The three platforms were the Buffalo, the Baltimore, and the 
Philadelphia. The Baltimore (or Democratic) platform was represented 
in a far more objectionable light to Free Soilers than the Whig plat- 
form, and the principles of the Democratic party, in reference to the 
Slavery question, were held up, in this Free Soil document, to the 
reprobation and scorn of the people of Massachusetts ; — and in refer- 
ence to all other political questions, such as the river and harbor 
bill, the public lands, retrenchment of expenditure, reduction of unnec- 
essary offices, cheap postage, election of postmasters by the people; 
" free soil, free speech, free labor, and free men" ; in respect to all these 
topics the Democratic party were represented, either as opposed to, or 
not sympathizing with the Free Soilers. Two years hardly had 
passed, the state of things, as to the character of parties, was in no 
degree changed, and the Free Soilers and Democrats were found act- 
ing together, on the ground that they were of one mind as to State 
Reform ! Supposing the two parties to the bargain sincere, it 
amounted to this, that the Free Soilers were willing to help into office 
men, whom they had just denounced as the friends of Slavery, because 
they happened to agree with them in favor of enclosing votes in a 
sealed envelope ; while Democrats joined Free Soilers, whose agitation 
they professed to regard as fraught with danger to the Union, because 
the Free Soilers were willing to join them in some item of new-fangled 
Democratic State Reform ! 

Fellow Citizens ! these wretched pretences, under which the coali- 
tion was palliated, are more discreditable, if possible, than the bargain 
itself. The latter shocks the conscience of every man of principle; 
the former are a bitter insult to his common sense. The entire 
arrangement was purely and simply a bargain to divide the offices in 



16 

1851, each party hoping that, in the chapter of events, this partition 
itselT might tend to the increase of party strength, and ultimately result 
in a monopoly of the loaves and fishes. 

The coalition was, accordingly, in many places consummated ; and 
in the result of the election, the Whigs, though constituting a large 
plurality of the People, were in a minority of the Senate, where 
numerous vacancies remained to be filled, and though greatly outnum- 
bering either of the other parties in the House, still but constituting a 
plurality there. The vacancies in the Senate were so filled by the coali- 
tionists in convention, as to establish their supremacy in that body; 
they already possessed a mujority in the House, on every subject on 
which they could act together. They accordingly proceeded to divide 
the spoils. 

And now, fellow citizens, commenced a scene never before enacted 
in this country. The two minority parties retained their separate 
organization, and held their separate caucuses. Beyond the vague 
and insincere pretence of sympathy on the subject of " State Reform," 
they had nothing in common ; all wholesome legislation was sus- 
pended ; business for the most part was laid aside ; and when attempts 
were made to transact it, it was transacted in a very unsatisfactory 
manner. The great work of the session was the bargaining for offices 
among minority candidates; — Governor and Lieutentant-Governor, 
Secretary of State and Councillors, President of the Senate and 
Speaker of the House, United States Senators for the short or the 
long term, together with the State Senators to fill the vacancies, — 
these were the prizes, ranged, as it were, in a row, ticketed and valued 
at such a rate ; such and such offices to one faction, considered as an 
equivalent to such and such offices to the other; — all deliberately 
bargained for in the different caucuses ; — and then A voting for B, on 
condition that B voted for A ; — all the candidates for all the offices 
being men, whose parties were in a lean minority at the polls ! Thus 
a candidate was placed in the Governor's chair, who received but 
36,492 out of 121,788 popular votes, and a United States Senator was 
elected by the concurrent vote of a House of Representatives, in which 
his partizans amounted to 112 out of 400 members! 

Let it not be thought that we are uncharitable, in speaking of these 
transactions as an open bargain of sale. We use the language of the 
parties themselves. It so happened that a portion of the Democratic 
members of the House (between a fourth and fifth of the members of 
that party,) refused, as far as the Senator for the long term was con- 
cerned, to take part in this unblushing traffic. Great embarrassment 
and delay were produced by this cause ; in fact, it. was the great busi- 
ness of the session, for weeks and months, to overcome the obstacle 
thus presented to the consummation of the bargain. During all this 
time, the organ of the Free Soil party, after all attempts to gain over 
the dissentients by smooth words had failed, was filled from day to day 
with the most violent language of denunciation. The recusant Demo- 
CTatS were declared to be " swindling traders," who had made a 
bargain, received the <:<>ods, and refused to pay the consideration. It 
was asserted in the boldest manner, to have been agreed .it the cau- 
cuses, that the Democrats " should have the office of Governor, on 
condition that the Free Soilers should have the Senator of the United 



17 

States for the long term." These statements were not merely made in 
anonymous newspaper paragraphs — they were signed by the names 
or the initials of the men who took a leading part in making the bar- 
gain, and received their share of the plunder. 

The office of Senator of the United States was the article of 
guilty merchandize which attracted chief attention, in consequence of 
the difficulty just alluded to in consummating the bargain and sale, 
and effecting the transfer of the goods. We deem it unnecssary to com- 
ment at length upon this transaction, inasmuch as it has been fully dis- 
cussed in an address to the people of Massachusetts, signed by the 
Whig members of the Senate and House of Representatives, and put 
forth at the close of the session. In that very able address the true 
nature of this transaction is fully unfolded, and it is plainly shown not 
merely to have been tainted with moral and political corruption, but to 
be clearly within the legal principles laid down by the Court, in a very 
remarkable instance reported in the volume of cases therein referred 
to. We will only add that this transaction was denounced in advance, 
as equally impolitic and dishonest, by some of the most respectable 
members of the Free Soil party. 

It is unnecessary to comment at length on the demoralizing nature 
of these transactions. It has occasionally happened in political affairs, 
that parties or sections of parties, who have differed from each other, 
as to the general course of policy, have united and acted in concert to 
carry some particular measure, or to elect some candidate who, being 
the first choice of neither, has been the second choice of both. How- 
ever pure the motives of those who enter into coalitions of this kind, 
it is well known that they are always looked upon with distrust, and 
seldom fail to be stamped with the public disapprobation. But an open 
and avowed bargain between parties, related to each other like the 
Free Soilers and the Democrats, — retaining each its distinctive opin- 
ions, — and agreeing on no one important political principle, — but 
drawn together simply by the powerful attraction of sharing the public 
offices, — this, it is believed, is a spectacle of which Massachusetts 
must hereafter possess the mournful singularity of setting the first 
example. 

In the remarks we have thus made, touching the origin and early 
history of the Free Soil party, we are desirous of being understood to 
accord to it, and even to its original leaders, the full benefit of their 
ignorance of Gen. Taylor — his character and opinions, which they 
themselves assigned in justification of their course, and we do not 
doubt that great numbers of that party have at all times been honest 
and sincere ; but with regard to the present Free Soil Coalition lead- 
ers, we should be unjust to our convictions, and fall short of our duty, 
if we failed to hold them up to the Commonwealth and the country as 
hypocrites, or selfish demagogues. We would also warn their follow- 
ers against being further deluded by them into courses, entirely incom- 
patible with their obligations as honest men, or true patriots. 

We should prolong this address, fellow-citizens, beyond its just lim- 
its, should we attempt to follow, in its details, the ignominious arrange- 
ment aforesaid, entered into by these Free Soil leaders and their coali- 
tion Democratic allies. Otherwise we might paint to you the indecent 
neglect of public business at the first part of the session, and the not 
2* 



18 

less indecent haste with which it was hurried over at its close ; the 
tampering with the most important interests of the people, in the vain 
attempt to give a show of reality to the delusive pretence of State 
reform ; the bold design to organize a minority representation, and 
disfranchise a third part of the citizens of the Commonwealth ; the 
pitiable humbug of ballot-envelopes, at war, as it is, with the spirit of 
the Constitution and the character of the people ; and other projects 
of legislation, equally wild, monstrous, and before unheard of in Mas- 
sachusetts. 

Forbearing to dwell on these matters, we feel it our duty to call your 
very particular attention to the act passed, providing that a vote should 
be given, at the election in November, on the question of a Conven- 
tion for the purpose of " revising or altering the Constitution of the 
Commonwealth." 

It is believed that from the time when the Constitution of Massa- 
chusetts was framed, down to the present day, a period of more than 
seventy years, there has not been an instance of a measure like the 
one now pending, for the calling of a Convention to revise that instru- 
ment, except on one occasion, and that was on the separation of Maine, 
which created a clear and unquestioned political necessity for such a 
Convention, inasmuch as there existed no provision in the original 
Constitution for the adoption of amendments. This movement, it is 
pretended, has been made necessary by the defeat of the project, 
already alluded to, brought forward last winter in relation to the basis 
of representation in the Legislature. If a proper amendment, loudly 
called for by the people, had been proposed and tried for a series of 
years, and had been without reason repeatedly rejected, there would 
be some show of excuse for resorting to the troublesome and expensive 
expedient of calling a Convention. But there is not the slightest pre- 
tence that any such exigency exists, or is likely to exist. The amend- 
ment, proposed at the last session, is known to be regarded by the 
Coalitionists as a matter of secondary importance. They have designs 
of a more extensive and serious character. Revolutionary changes 
more decided, are contemplated. A general crusade against the con- 
servative principles of the Constitution will be undertaken. The ten- 
ure by which all executive offices are now held, and the mode of 
appointment thereto, are to be changed ; the independence of Courts 
of justice will be broken down ; the stability of property shaken, and 
every thing, which has hitherto honorably distinguished Massachusetts 
among her sister States, laid in the dust. To attain these objects, the 
convenient and economical mode of effecting constitutional amend- 
ments, now provided by the instrument itself, is set aside ; and resort 
is had to the expensive and inconvenient method of calling a Conven- 
tion, simply because that measure, it is thought, can be more easily 
made the subject of popular agitation, and more readily brought with- 
in the range of coalition tactics. For this reason, without the slight- 
est motive of necessity or convenience — without any indication of 
public sentiment on the part of the community ; at a time when the 
great mass of the people are perfectly satisfied with the Constitution, 
under which, by the favor of Providence, they enjoy an amount of 
social and political prosperity, unsurpassed, if equalled, among the fam- 
ilies of men, the insane proposal is made for a general overhauling — 



19 

i( an alteration of the Constitution," (they do not pretend to call it an 
amendment,) in the vain hope that when all the principles which have 
hitherto guided us are abandoned, and all the institutions that have 
sheltered us are broken down, the means may be found by the factions 
who have entered into partnership and taken the government of the 
Commonwealth on contract, to render permanent their dishonest bar- 
gain, by organizing a new party, on the basis of share and share alike 
in the public plunder. 

But no, fellow citizens, this must not be. We entertain no appre- 
hension of such a deplorable result. You will not allow this deep 
reproach to settle on our beloved Commonwealth. The land of school 
houses and churches must not be given over to this monstrous fraud 
and violence upon its institutions. We are confident that those among 
you, who, by any degree of inattention to your primary duties, have 
allowed the evils, under which we now suffer, to come upon us, will 
arouse from your slumbers, and that those who have heretofore exerted 
themselves, will put forth new energy ; and that all classes of honest 
and patriotic men will rush to the rescue. You have never ceased to 
be a large plurality at the polls ; you command unquestionably a large 
numerical majority of the citizens. You will, we are sure, feel the 
incumbent duty of making a decisive effort to restore the State. This 
great dishonor must be wiped off. The temple of our liberties must, 
not stand profaned before the country and the world, as one great 
market house, where the highest trusts, the most respectable magistra- 
cies, are openly bought and sold. You will not, fellow citizens, 
another season submit to see candidates for office, who have been dis- 
tanced at the polls, huckstering themselves and each other into those 
places of high trust, which you have been accustomed for seventy 
years, — you and your fathers before you, — to bestow on meritorious 
citizens, as a special mark of your favor. Let any party that compre- 
hends a majority, rule the State. This is the principle of republican 
government. Or if there is none such, let any party that commands 
even a plurality, bear sway. The majority, the plurality may err ; the 
presumption, however, is in their favor ; but we adjure you, by the 
memory of an honored ancestry, to rescue the State from its present 
degradation, and not permit its government, the coming year, to be 
seized into the hands of trafficking minorities. 



1. Resolved — That the Whigs of Massachusetts unwaveringly hold to the 
patriotic sentiments expressed by them in the Legislature of 1833, and which 
they have ever firmly cherished, and now solemnly re- affirm as the cardinal 
principles of their political faith, in the words then used. That the Constitution 
of the United States of America is a solemn social compact, by which the people 
of the said States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure 
domestic tranquillity, provide for the common defence, promote the general welfare, 
and secure the blessings of liberty for themselves and their posterity, formed 
themselves into one body politic, under a common government ; — that this Con- 
stitution and the laws of the United States made in pursuance thereof, and all 
treaties made under the authority of the same, are the supreme law of the land, 
anything in the Constitution or laws of any State to the contrary notwithstanding ; 
and that no citizen, State, or other member of the body politic, has a right, in any 
shape, or under any pretext, to annul or prevent the execution of the said Consti- 
tution, laws or treaties, or any of them, excepting in such extreme cases as justify 



20 

a violent resistance to the laws, on the principle of the natural and indefeasible 
prerogative of self-defence against intolerable oppression. 

2. Resolved — That the Whigs of Massachusetts deem this a proper occasion to 
reiterate the sentiment they have at all times cherished, and have heretofore ex- 
pressed, viz. : that the Union is the priceless legacy of Washington and his co- 
patriots, the foundation of all our prosperity and power ; — the only means of 
securing all our National blessings, and averting National evils ; the surest guar- 
anty of the continuance of our liberties, our glory for the past, our strength in the 
present, and our hope in the future. Its preservation transcends in importance 
any and all other political questions, and as we have received it from the fathers, 
so we will perpetuate it to the children, to the latest generation. 

3. Resolved — That the Whigs of Massachusetts will faithfully perform every 
duty imposed upon them by the Constitution of the United States, and they call 
upon their brethren, in every State in the Union, to respect and observe all its pro- 
visions. 

4. Resolved — That the Whigs of Massachusetts cordially support the National 
Administration in all its just and patriotic measures ; — in its generous sympathy 
with oppressed nations struggling for liberty in every part of the world ; — in its 
able and vigorous management of our foreign affairs ; — in its unwavering purpose 
to maintain inviolate our public faith with all nations ; — and in its sworn resolve 
to vindicate the integrity of this Union against all assaults, from whatever quarter. 

5. Resolved — That the name of Daniel Webster "Is engraven alike upon 
the pillars of the Constitution, and the hearts of his countrymen," and we take this 
occasion, in view of the prominent position he has occupied in the Administration, 
to express our undiminished confidence in his comprehensive ability and states- 
manship, and to bear testimony to the wisdom of his counsels and the value of his 
services. 

6. Resolved — That the members of this Convention have witnessed with 
unfeigned satisfaction the efforts which have recently been made by the Whigs of 
New York to bring about " an intelligent, honest, and cordial co-operation among 
themselves, and with the Whigs of other States of the Union." That we rejoice 
that these efforts have been crowned with success, and have met the universal 
approbation of the Whig party throughout the country, and that we heartily con- 
cur in the sentiments which have been expressed by them as the result of their 
consultations, and as the basis of their future action. 

7. Resolved — That we turn from the Administration of the Nation to that of 
our State with extreme mortification, where we are compelled to behold at the 
head of affairs, the candidates of a party comprising a small minority of the people, 
who have succeeded in obtaining power only by the most profligate bargain and 
corruption. 

8. Resolved — That up to the commencement of the present political year, "the long 
established and well knoAvn policy of the Whigs had sustained in healthful action 
the general industry and varied interests of the Commonwealth, notwithstanding the 
manifold embarrassments created by the tariff of 1846 ; justice had been fully and 
ably administered ; pure legislation had been fairly applied to all interests and 
classes ; the execution of the laws had been impartial and just ; nowhere had the 
equality of persons and the security of their rights been practically greater ; the 
acquisition of wealth, of knowledge and power had been open to all ; education in 
all its branches had been fully imparted to every class, and the functions of gov- 
ernment had been nowhere fulfilled and sustained at less expense ;" which satis- 
factory state of affairs was fully recognized by the present executive in his inaugu- 
ral address. 

9. Resolved — That up to the time when the coalition leaders in January last 
seized the reins of government in Massachusetts, our ancient Commonwealth had 
maintained its pristine character for purity and honesty in its political councils, 
and afforded a bright example to all the world, of institutions, free from corruption, 
bribery, or intrigue;— and that Ave have witnessed with the deepest humiliation 
the spectacle which has since been exhibited of Free Soil Senators and Representa- 
tives rewarded by the Executive for the votes by which he was elevated to the 
Chief Magistracy, and of Democratic Senators and Representatives appointed to 
offices of profit and trust, in consideration of their having aided in the election of 
a Free Soil United States Senator. 

Resolved — That as the legitimate fruits of this unprincipled coalition, we have 
seen a protracted session of the Legislature, at an increased expense of over 



21 

$50,000 beyond that of any of the previous ten years, resulting in a crude mass 
of imperfect and undigested acts and resolves, one of which contains the uncalled 
for and hazardous project of a Convention for overhauling our venerable and 
admirable Constitution, at an expenditure approaching, in all probability, a quar- 
ter of a million of dollars, and with the view of making it a more convenient 
instrument for accomplishing the designs and perpetuating the supremacy of Dem- 
ocratic and Free Soil coalition leaders. 

Resolved — That Massachusetts owes it to its own character to rebuke such a 
prostitution of authority to the vilest purposes of bargain and corruption, by a 
prompt dismissal from office of all concerned in it. 

10. Resolved — That the arrogant pretensions of the self-styled Democracy of 
Massachusetts, under its present organization, to be the true Union and National 
party, — when they have just aided in sending to the Senate of the United States 
an agitator and abolitionist, and while not a word of disapprobation or disavowal 
of that extraordinary act was uttered at their late Convention, are simply ridicu- 
lous, and should be received everywhere with the scorn they merit. 

1 1 . Resolved — That this Convention unanimously nominates the Hon. ROBERT 
C. WINTHROP, of Boston, as the Whig candidate for Governor, whose history 
has long been familiar to every true Whig in the State, and whose character is 
among our richest treasures ; who has added fresh lustre to a name, already among 
the brightest in our annals, and whose talents, integrity and patriotism are well 
known to the people of Massachusetts, during a long and brilliant career in the 
Congress of the United States, as well as in the Legislature of his native State, 
and whose services in every station in which he has been placed, as Representative, 
as Speaker or as Senator, have been marked with signal eloquence, fidelity and 
ability, and whose private virtues and whose public principles will alike attract 
the regard and confidence of all good citizens, and whose administration of the 
chief executive magistracy will be proudly associated with that of the Puritan and 
Patriot Governors of other days. 

12. Resolved — That this Convention una nimo usly nominates the Hon. GEORGE 
GRENNELL, of Greenfield, as the Whig candidate for Lieut. Governor, whose 
whole life has been marked with unsullied honor, probity and virtue, and who has 
rendered faithful and important services in the Legislature of the State and in the 
National Congress, and in every station he has at all times enjoyed the highest 
esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens throughout the Commonwealth. 

13. Resolved — That deeply impressed with the views we have thus expressed, 
we will put forth our whole united strength to sustain the nominations of the 
Convention, and we call on all good citizens, as well as all true Whigs, to unite 
with us in redeeming our ancient and beloved Commonwealth from its present dis- 
graceful and deplorable condition. 

On motion, it was voted unanimously, that the Address and Resolu- 
tions be adopted. 

Mr. Pease, of Edgartown, from the committee on credentials, 
reported that nearly every town was represented, and that credentials 
have been received from 1200 members. Accepted. 

On motion of Abraham H. Howland, of New Bedford, it was 
unanimously voted, that the thanks of this Convention be presented to 
the Hon. Benjamin F. Thomas, for the dignified, faithful and impartial 
manner in which he has discharged the duties of President of the 
Convention. 

Mr. Thomas replied to the vote of thanks, as follows : — 

Gentlemen of the Convention: — I thank you for this expres- 
sion of your confidence and regard. But the time for the deliberation 
of this Convention has passed. The time has now come for action. 
Vigorous and united action will alone be eloquent. I shall not there- 
fore occupy your time, but close with presenting to you my grateful 
acknowledgements. 

The Convention of delegates was dissolved at a quarter before 
4 o'clock. 



22 



PLATFORM OF THE WHIGS OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, 

Agreed upon a?id adopted by the several Whig Committees at a Meeting held in Albany 
in July last, and referred to in the foregoing Address and Resolutions. 

An Economical Administration of the Government : 

The strict accountability of public officers, and their rigid adher- 
ence to the limitations of power prescribed by the Constitution and the 
Laws ; an honest and faithful performance of all obligations made with 
foreign nations, with a scrupulous regard for their rights, and a firm 
and steady defence of our own : 

The Improvement of the important Rivers and Harbors of the 
country, so as to render them navigable and accessible, by prudent 
and systematic appropriations, founded upon examinations made by 
competent and disinterested public officers : 

Such a discrimination in the Duties necessarily laid upon Imports 
for the support of Government, as shall secure to the Industry of our 
countrymen a just remuneration, and shall stimulate Mechanical and 
Manufacturing Enterprise, and thus provide a home consumption for 
the products of Agriculture, which may control and counteract the 
unsteady demands of foreign markets, and as such shall promote that 
healthy interchange among ourselves of the fruits of our own skill and 
labor, which is so well calculated to cement our Union, and maintain 
the spirit of national independence : 

That the Whigs of the State, as a body, are inflexibly opposed to 
the subjection of any territory of the United States now free, to laws 
imposing involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime ; and 
they rejoice that no proposition to that effect is now pending, or is likely 
to be presented ; while, at the same time, they unqualifiedly acknowl- 
edge the right of every sovereign State to regulate its own municipal 
institutions, in such manner as its people may deem most conducive 
to their safety and happiness, without interference, directly or indi- 
rectly, by citizens of other States, or subjects of other countries : 

That the Whigs of this State will abide by the Constitution of the 
United States, in all its parts, and that they will receive its true 
meaning and construction from the judicial tribunals it has created for 
that purpose ; and will always sustain and defend such decisions as 
the law of the land, until they are reversed by the same tribunals : 

That the laws of Congress, and of the State Legislatures, pro- 
nounced constitutional by the judicial tribunals, must be enforced 
and implicitly obeyed ; and that while this is cheerfully recognized as 
the duty of all, as subjects of the laws, yet that the right of citizens, as 
voters, is equally undeniable to discuss, with a full and mutual regard 
for the rights and interests of all parts of the confederacy, (which is as 
necessary now to maintain, as it was indispensable to achieve the 
blessed Union of these States,) the expediency of such laws, and the 
propriety of any of their provisions, and to seek, by constitutional 
means, their repeal or modification : 

That all who are animated by a sincere desire to preserve the Union 
unimpaired, and the free institutions which it sustains and guarantees, 
by which alone individual security and national peace and prosperity 



23 

can be perpetuated, must condemn all attempts to resist, defeat, or 
render ineffectual, any laws passed by constitutional majorities of leg- 
lative bodies, in either the Federal or State Governments ; and that 
the Whigs of New York will ever be found prompt to render a patri- 
otic acquiescence in all such laws : 

That the National Administration is entitled to the confidence and 
support of the Whigs of New York, for the eminent ability and patri- 
otism which have characterized its measures ; for its successful man- 
agement of our foreign affairs ; the generous sympathy it has exhibited 
toward an oppressed people struggling for freedom; the force and dig- 
nity with which it has maintained the right to indulge such sympathy, 
and with which it has rebuked the threats of an imperious Government 
to violate the immunities of an accredited public agent, and the deter- 
mination it has evinced to repress and defeat all movements tending to 
impair the public faith, and all unlawful enterprises calculated to dis- 
turb the public peace and provoke civil war, or to sever or weaken the 
relations of any State with the Union. 



THE LETTER OF JUDGE THOMAS. 

Worcester, Sept. 11th, 1851. 
Hon. Robert C. Winthrop, Boston. 

Dear Sir: — The Whig Convention held yesterday at Springfield, 
instructed me, as its President, to inform you of your unanimous nom- 
ination by the Convention as the Whig Candidate for Governor of the 
Commonwealth, at the coming election. 

The Convention could not have assigned to me a more grateful duty ; 
for the unanimity, enthusiasm, and determination of purpose which 
marked all its proceedings, give the strongest assurance that the nomi- 
nation will be ratified by the people of Massachusetts. 

Very truly, your ob't servant, 

BENJ. F. THOMAS. 



THE REPLY OF MR. WINTHROP. 

Boston, 17th Sept., 1851. 

My Dear Sir : — Your obliging communication, of the 11th inst, 
informing me of my unanimous nomination by the late Convention at 
Springfield, as the Whig Candidate for Governor of Massachusetts, 
reached me on my return to this city, a day or two since. 

I am deeply sensible to such a manifestation of regard and confi- 
dence on the part of so numerous and distinguished a body of Dele- 
gates from every quarter of the State, and I embrace the earliest oppor- 
tunity to offer to them all my most grateful acknowledgments for the 
honor they have conferred upon me. 

Allow me to add, that I have derived peculiar gratification from the 
circumstances under which the nomination was made, and from the 
proceedings by which it was followed. I have read with the highest 
interest and satisfaction the Address and Resolutions which were 
adopted on the occasion, together with your own eloquent and patri- 
otic remarks on taking the Chair of the Convention. Breathing a 



24 

spirit of forbearance and toleration as to the past, as well as of concilia- 
tion and concord as to the future, they seem animated at once by a 
just and enlightened regard for the interests and character of our own 
Commonwealth, and by a firm and unwavering devotion to the prosper- 
ity and welfare of the American Union. Their whole tone and tenor 
meet with my own hearty concurrence. 

It cannot be doubted that, if the harmony, enthusiasm, and energy, 
which marked the proceedings of .the Delegates at Springfield, shall be 
seasonably and generally diffused among those for whom they acted, 
the Whig Party of Massachusetts will exhibit itself, at the next elec- 
tion, not only united and triumphant at home, but ready and resolved to 
unite with their brethren from Maine to California, in sustaining and 
prolonging a sound Constitutional Administration of the Federal Gov- 
ernment. 

It only remains for me to say, that should such a result be accomplish- 
ed, and the nomination of the Convention be ratified by the suffrages of 
the People, my best efforts shall not be wanting to discharge with fidel- 
ity and firmness whatever duties may thus be devolved on me, and to 
uphold the interests and honor of my native State in all its individual, 
and in all its National relations. 

Believe me, my dear sir, with great respect and regard, your friend 
and ob't servant, ROBT. C. WINTHROP. 

The Hon. Benj. F. Thomas, Worcester, Mass. 



THE REPLY OF MR. GEO. GRENNELL. 

Greenfield, Sept. 17th, 1851. 
Hon. Benj. F. Thomas, 

Pres't of the late Whig Convention : 

My Dear Sir : — I have had the honor to receive your favor of the 
llth instant, informing me of my nomination, by the Whig Conven- 
tion lately held at Springfield, as the Whig Candidate for Lieutenant- 
Governor at. the ensuing election. 

The confidence in me, thus expressed by that large and intelligent 
body of delegates, — speaking for the Whigs of Massachusetts, — de- 
mands my most grateful acknowledgement. 

Whatever may be my own impression of the fitness or expediency of 
the selection, — whatever the apprehension of success or failure in the 
result, I obey the call of the Whig Convention, and accept the nomi- 
nation. 

To stand for office as the selected candidate of the Whigs of our 
Commonwealth, is to occupy an honorable position. To act with 
that party, and by its principles, as I receive them, is to stand, without 
wavering, for our Constitution and our Union, — to stand for freedom, 
too ; and to guard the rights and privileges of the whoie people, and 
equally to dispense their benefits and burdens. These principles have, 
and have ever had, my cordial support. Let us hope they may ever 
prevail in our Commonwealth, and common country. 

I am sir, with great respect your obedient servant, 

GEO. GRENNELL. 



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